


My Only Weakness

by Adohug



Series: Dance With Us 2020 [4]
Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, It's mainly shelby and emma bonding, The Peanut Brittle Incident, explaining a convoluted headcanon of mine that coincides with this incident, peanut brittle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27940238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adohug/pseuds/Adohug
Summary: “Who said Kaylee wanted to know?” Shelby can’t help but smile at thegot me therelook that flashes across Emma’s face.”Look, you’re not getting your butterless popcorn with extra hot sauce until you tell me.”Emma pauses. “What kind of hot sauce?”“Tabasco Chipotle.” Yeah, she’s getting the story.Or: i had no choice on this topic i saw the prompt and was possessedOr or: my notes for this prompt was simply "peanut brittle."
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan, Shelby (The Prom Musical) & Emma Nolan
Series: Dance With Us 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2040061
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42
Collections: Dance With Us Week 2020





	My Only Weakness

**Author's Note:**

> This one's being uploaded later than the others bc i took the morning off from ym computer due to finishing two (2) research papers this weekend
> 
> Here's Day 4: Atlanta - show some love for anything that didn’t make to to opening night on broadway! cut scenes, songs, characterization, props, anything works!

“No, Emma, you are backtracking _right_ now.” Shelby plops down and holds her recently retrieved snacks hostage. “I have never gotten this story from Alyssa, so you’re telling me it.”

Emma pouts and tries in vain to grab the snacks, but Shelby isn’t the one who quit cheer before high school. “I don’t want to embarrass her!”

“Luckily, she isn’t here yet.”

“Well- neither is Kaylee!”

“Who said Kaylee wanted to know?” Shelby can’t help but smile at the _got me there_ look that flashes across Emma’s face.”Look, you’re not getting your butterless popcorn with extra hot sauce until you tell me.”

Emma pauses. “What kind of hot sauce?”

“Tabasco Chipotle.” Yeah, she’s getting the story. (She wouldn’t waste _Papi_ ’s good stuff on this, and she knows Emma likes this kind.)

Sure enough, Emma sighs before leaning back. “Okay, I’ll tell you about the peanut brittle.”

Shelby settles in too, loosening her guard of the popcorn a little bit as her excitement overtakes her caution. She ended up missing school that day due to a stomach bug and since Kaylee wasn’t in their chemistry class Shelby’s never heard the full story. But, Emma was there, and ever since Prom Shelby had made sure to let Emma know she was one of her friends now, especially since she and Alyssa showed no signs of breaking up for college.

An advantage of becoming friends with Emma is finagling embarrassing Alyssa stories from her using her weakness: this strange, gross popcorn concoction that nobody else will touch. 

“Okay, so,” Emma begins, “It’s chemistry class, and I’m partnered up with Alyssa for the lab because Mr. Thompson wanted to, and I quote, “shake things up around here.” I didn’t really know Alyssa back then -- this is actually how we got to know each other -- so our bench was pretty quiet while we set up and grabbed everything. Eventually Alyssa broke the ice with all her muttering while measuring stuff out. She was messing up the units, which I thought was ridiculous, how do you--” 

Shelby coughs pointedly. Emma at least has the composure to look apologetic. 

“Right, yeah, sorry. Anyways, Since I don’t know Alyssa yet, I trust her with the cooking of everything over the bunsen burner--”

“A terrible idea.”

“In _hindsight_ , now that I know she can burn boiling water, _yeah_ , but I was awkward and nervous and working next to a cute girl! And I’m doing all of the math and equation balancing busywork, so I'm distracted from what Alyssa’s doing. Suddenly I hear a small ‘pop’ followed by Alyssa whispering ‘oh no.’ Before I can look, a _much_ louder pop happens, and I’m covered in overcooked black carbon that faintly smells like it used to be peanuts.” Emma pauses, head tilting. “That would be the worst LaCroix flavor ever, ‘used to be peanuts.’”

Shelby laughs.

Emma’s nice enough to wait for Shelby to cal down before continuing. “So we’re both standing there in shock, stuck in the back corner of the room, no way to leave without drawing attention to ourselves, and _covered_ in this sticky mess. Lys looks two seconds away from crying and/or panicking, and I think to myself _Okay, Nolan, make good on being a Hufflepuff!_ and whisper to her ‘don’t worry, I got this.’”

“Wait, I think I sorta know this part,” Shelby interrupts. “Everyone said that you stood up and started apologizing really loudly about something, asking if the two of you could run to the bathroom.”

Emma nods, smile wide. “Yeah, exactly! I angled us so that no one would see the gunk and made enough of a commotion that Thompson came over and noticed the mess. He _somehow_ didn’t make a big deal, just said to stay after school to finish the lab up correctly.”

“Really? I had a bunch of busywork assigned instead, never even got to make the stupid peanut brittle.” 

“I was surprised too. So we make it to the bathroom without anyone noticing, but Alyssa’s shirt was pretty much ruined. All she had to change into was her cheer outfit, so I offered her one of my flannels from my locker, cause I always have extra clothes in there.” _Because I would get food thrown on me_ goes unsaid, but Shelby hears it loud and clear. “When she returned my shirt the next day she confessed that she needed help with Chem and I, a smart-dumb lesbian, said yes. Tutoring was how we became friends, actually.”

Shelby rolls her eyes. “How cute. Take your gross popcorn, you earned it.”

Emma practically lunges for the bowl at the same time that the doorbell rings through the house. “Oh, that must be Kaylee and Alyssa!”

“I got it, don’t worry your gay little head.”

“But it’s my house-”

“It’s your _grandmother’s_ house, and she isn’t here and you’re busy.” Shelby is at the door before Emma can protest, swinging it wide open.

As expected, Alyssa and Kaylee are standing there, sleepover bags slung over their shoulders. “Sorry we’re late, Ms. Klein needed Kaylee to do something.”

Shelby waves it off, stepping aside to let her friends in. “It’s fine, Emma kept me entertained. Did you ever clean the peanut brittle out of that shirt, by the way?”

Every moment of making that disgusting popcorn mixture was worth it the moment that Alyss registers Shelby’s words. She watches in glee as Alyssa’s face morphs into one of betrayal and she pinpoints Emma in the building with one look. “You promised!”

Emma, looking every bit like the deer in headlights that she is in this moment, stutters out a response through a mouthful of popcorn. “She knew my weak spot, I was bribed!”

Alyssa only gives Emma the _thud_ of her bag in warning before she lunges at her girlfriend (who, in her rush to scramble up and away from the cheerleading captain, manages to spill her popcorn all over the carpet). “Get back here, you little--”

Kaylee, still by the door with Shelby, follows the yelling couple with her eyes as she asks, “Peanut brittle?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Shelby, also watching, replies.

From the stairs, Greg walks in on his phone. He looks up, notices his cousin slowly lose her lead on her girlfriend and their friends standing at the door doing nothing, turns around without a word, and vanishes back up the stairs to his room. He can get some snacks later.

**Author's Note:**

> ah yes, her only weakness: weirdass food
> 
> I have 6.5 fics for this journey typed out!! honestly my writing ethic has improved for this


End file.
